


as good a place to fall as any

by sapphire2309



Category: White Collar
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-25 07:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6185944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire2309/pseuds/sapphire2309
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five drabbles written for the lightning round at writerverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the one who's always and never alone

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Bedroom Hymns by Florence + the Machine.  
>  **Disclaimer:** White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's surrounded by people and it still hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Girl With The Red Balloon by The Civil Wars

Neal has learned that being alone has nothing to do with being around people. He knows this because he is surrounded by them and it still hurts.

He’s tired of being blown out of the arms of the people he loves like a helium balloon. (It doesn’t help that, this time, one of the winds was him.)

He’s sitting across from a fence, and he’s tempted, so tempted, to say yes, if only to surrender to the rush of a con, and, just for a few hours, forget where he is, who he is.

It takes him all his strength just to run away.


	2. paint splattered teardrops on my shirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking up with Neal hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran

Breaking up with Neal hurts. Leaving people always does. (Especially for girls with confident smirks hiding soft hearts).

She wanted to walk right past him, she was about to, but her legs decide not to listen and she's standing right in front of him, kissing him, one last time (she tastes vinegar and tears and wishes she hadn't) and _then_ walks away, the desperate cry for affection that had let her fall recklessly in love with him smothered again.

It was so easy, when she was with him, to not think of consequences.

Now it's too late to wish that she had.


	3. paint a picture in my mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A vague shadow of Neal is all she has left to love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Daydream by Christina Perri

A vague shadow of Neal is all she has left to love.

She's forgotten the way he smiles when he wakes up and sees her. She's forgotten how it feels to fall asleep safe and loved. All she has is a steadily decreasing stack of aliases and freezing motel rooms and the dreamlike hope that she will someday get to call a house home.

She has Fowler buy explosives and doesn't let anyone follow her for longer than two minutes and holds on to the dream she crafted so carefully as fiercely as she knows how, because she wants to love _him_ again.


	4. i was lost before she started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do ordinary people do with their lives?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is a slightly bastardised lyric from St. Jude by Florence + the Machine.

Retirement doesn't suit her.

She spends days arranging her villa, displaying her treasure, so she doesn't notice at first. But then, tired and satisfied, she reclines on the back porch with a glass of wine and has to wonder, _What next?_

She's always been chasing something. First the music box, then the treasure, then a treasure. Now there's nothing.

Maybe this is what being lost feels like.

She's tempted to tear this place to pieces, just so she has something to chase again. But that's the coward's way out. It's not for her.

What do ordinary people do with their lives?


	5. stand still so i can see your silhouette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A power cut causes an interesting play of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first section is the original drabble, the section after that is the bit I couldn't help but write.   
> Title from Overlap by Ani DiFranco.

It feels like an involuntary response, her hand rising sharply to stop Neal in his tracks, as he walks back in, wine bottle and glass in hand, and the power cuts out.

“Wh-”

“Don't move.”

And then she's glad for that impulse, because Neal looks stunning in silhouette, illuminated by lightning, a little surprised, a little uncertain, only just visible in the near-darkness.

She doesn't rake her eyes over his body like some voyeur (though she can't resist a glance or two). Instead, she looks deep into his eyes and they savour this moment together, even if he doesn't understand what or why.

-:-

The power snaps back on, and the moment passes, Neal puts down the things he's holding, and he glances away long enough while he's doing it that he's thoroughly unprepared for Sara shoving him against the nearest wall and kissing his breath away.

He lets himself be kissed, lets her graze her teeth over his lips, and wraps his arms around her like a tentative afterthought.

“What was that?” he asks in a whisper the next time he has a breath to spare, eyes glowing with happiness, lips parted in confusion.

“I'm not entirely sure. You looked...” Beautiful is the wrong word, Sara knows. He won't like it, and it's too generic anyway. “Breathtaking.”

Breathtaking is right, despite also being generic. They're both a little unsteady, breathing a little too fast.

“Your heartbeat,” Sara whispers, awed, as she places her hand on his chest to confirm what she thought she heard.

“I wasn't sure whether to be scared or turned on.”

“I guess you picked the latter in the end.”

“I guess I did.”


End file.
